Undergraduate Courses 2017-2018

Dance

Component—Spring

In this semester-long course for students completing their studies at the College, we will examine and hone the tools needed for propelling your creative work into the professional landscape. Taught from an active artist/artist manager perspective, the course will attempt to achieve fluency for all makers by providing practical encounters with key areas of budgeting and finance, fundraising and grant writing, presenting and touring, and self-producing components (including marketing, press, audience development and engagement strategies, digital and social interactions, and production administration). We will explore various dance and theatre financial models, from being an independent solo artist to starting your own ensemble. The class will be participatory, asking each student to craft project descriptions, grant narratives, and budgets for their thesis projects or other works shown in the previous semester or first year. We will develop and stage mock applications and peer/panel reviews for real-world funding opportunities, undertake group budgeting for productions that occur in each department, and develop concurrent fundraising plans and crowdsourcing campaigns. The aim of this course is to provide a greater level of competitive preparedness for graduating theatre and dance makers on the cusp of representing themselves and their work in their chosen field(s).